Friday, April 07, 2006

Weenie

Chief Joseph J. Esposito has apologized to Simcha Felder and Dov Hikind for uttering a profanity during Wednesday night's riot. As you recall, the chief permited a four-letter word to slip his lips during a protest in which hundreds of Orthodox Jews demonstrated, some of them setting bonfires, burning a police car, and laying seige to a police precient.

To date, the Rampaging Jews of Boro Park have not reciprocated the apology. Nor have they offered to pay for the squad car they destroyed. Instead, the community continues to simmer, and to speak of traffic blitzs and police brutality.

Police brutality? Let's remember how the police handled past protests. In contrast to the three(!) arrests made Tuesday, hundreds of arrests were made during the 2004 Republican National Convention, and protesters who commited minor offences were held for long stretches of time. But in Boro Park, instead of behaving aggresivly, the police defused the situation by holding back and allowing the community to vent it's rage. Though I don't agree with that strategy (l'havdil, it is that strategy which caused the death of Yankel Rosenblum) the people of Boro Park should be glad they were treated with restraint and not like Democrats.

For this restraint, the cops should be praised by the community, and not mau-maued into making bogus and humiliating apologies to spotlight-seeking politicians.

[Police Chief Apologizes for Remarks During Brooklyn Protest - New York Times]